Pretty, Pretty Projects

Ah, the recurring dance of the holidays: finding cards for family which will offend neither me (by being overtly Christian) nor them (by being too vaguely holidayish). Not that any of them (outside immediate family) know that I'm not Christian, that I know of. That falls into the category of "I'm standing here, in the closet, with the door wide open, singing a little song... but I'm not coming so far out of the closet that you can't deny it if you really, really want to."

Most years, I just give up and don't send cards. But this year, I think it's a... hmm, I find myself wanting to use the word mitzvah. There's a little bit of filial duty, but also a lot of "act of human kindness," as the people I feel most compelled to write are my elderly relatives who are feeling themselves more and more shut in. (Admittedly, my great-aunt made it to 98 years old with completely independent living, only just moved to an independent-living-apartment in a care complex a couple of weeks ago.)

Anyway. Off to run some errands, find some cards, and then make sheathes for the shinies. You want a knife? Come to the Longest Night Ball, because there'll be two (count 'em, TWO!) in the silent auction.

ETA, for discussion:: So, does buying Hallmark cards count as supporting local business? Or is there a point where even if a company is locally based/founded, you say "Hang on, you have corporate offices on four continents, you're not a local anymore." If there is such a point, roughly where does it lie for you?

This meme has provided me with much amusing reading on my friends list, and I'm curious to hear what y'all would warn people about for me. So, if I came with a warning label, what would it be?

Here's one to start you off:

Warning: attempting to scare zylch by sneaking up from behind and yelling may cause bruising to the face or thorax. (As Yeti learned on Tuesday.)

Admittedly, they are already bespoke for various purposes (gifts/donations). And I still need to make sheaths. But I have three shiny knives finished, and the technology to make more.

I don't know why it is that I get on a knifemaking kick in the winter when it's godsawful cold in the garage (well, it's not too bad when I'm working on the grinder, but the buffer creates bloody wind chill on my fingers). Perhaps it has something to do with wanting to spend the nicer seasons doing something outside.

Next, I fix the shower drain so I can take a shower without standing in water! The world will appreciate this, I'm sure (as, I presume, will the other denizens of der Fractalhaus.)

Also and, the dogs are mostly indoors and minimally supervised today and being pretty well-behaved so far ::knocks on wood::. Let's hope this trend continues.

Ok, so back to what I was going to post a few days ago: the Holiday Board Game Gift Guide.

My criteria are simple: games that my extended family will happily play, but that my boardgame snob friends won’t turn up their noses at. Bonus requirement: them must be small enough to fit in a stocking (or in your pocket, to play as you travel).

Such games are few and far between, and nothing I’ve yet reviewed this year qualifies.

But here are 5:

Bananagrams

Fairy Tale

Incan Gold

No Thanks!

Times Square

Bonus 4 – Grandma & gamers will play, but it won’t fit in your pocket:

Ticket to Ride

Ingenious

Dominion

Pandemic

( What They Are )

Yesterday was so, so fired, in a take-it-out-back-and-shoot-it kind of way, a take-the-custies-out-back-and-shoot-them kind of way, yea verily, even unto a Countess of Crankypantsylvania kind of way. Luckily for you, Gentle Readers, you have all been spared the venting post that I was going to make (behind a cut tag, at least). One reason for this was the application of gumbo. Mmmmmmmmmm, gumbo. The other reason was that I decided to read my flist before writing a post, and discovered that a young friend of mine is in a zombie video remake, and that cracked me up sufficiently to restore a good mood.

( No, really. )

So there's this meme that goes around every year, about posting the first line from each month in your journal.

Bah, I say. My life does not run on this calendar of Jan 1 to Dec 31. Nor does it recognize the first of the month as being particularly significant. So, I present to you the semi-random first line meme. How it works is this:

Acquire a random number between 1 and 28. Use dice, use random.org, consult your pineal gland, whatever. This is your day reference. Now, acquire another random number between 1 and 12 to pick a month for each year you've posted in your journal (if you've only had your journal for a year or two, just do a randomly selected day from each month). Post the first line of the entry from that date, or if no entry on that date, then from the first entry following it.

My results (the 15th of each month):

November 2000: We opened Le Misanthrope last night -- wow.

March 2001: Hey everybody, guess where i am!

2002: There is nooooooo 2002. Rule 6: No Poufters!

October 2003: I was sort of hoping that some program would go through and delete any journal that hadn't been updated in over 2 years, but apparently not.

February 2004: It has come to my attention (from Drummel, by way of Jai) that there are rumors at Gaia about a possible relationship between Drummel and me. [ok, so I'm bending the rules here -- this is the second post of that day. But the first one started with "My toilet is a fucking bastard," and this other entry (or really, the comments section) still makes me laugh more than five years later.]

November 2005: In ancient Greek mythology, Tantalus got into trouble with the gods for spilling some of their secrets to human beings. [A quote from the Freewill for that week, which I then refute with Real Greek Mythology]

August 2006: I woke up this morning feeling mildly panicky.

September 2007: Crazy mad Wednesday of the crazy mad week is pretty much over.

January 2008: Recently on the radio (KKFI -- I don't like everything they play, but at least it's always a surprise), there was a show featuring music using lyrics from R. Burns.

October 2009: Because sometimes, you look around and think to yourself, hey, I'm taking some things for granted here.

When I tell people that the majority of white people in NYC are Jews, few people believe me.

Want proof?

http://gothamist.com/2009/12/02/sophia_and_jayden_oust_isabella_and.php#more

Top ten girls names for white people in NYC:
1. Olivia
2. Esther
3. Sarah
4. Sophia
5. Rachel
6. Emma
7. Chaya
8. Ava
9. Leah
10.Miriam

Boys?
1. Daniel
2. Joseph
3. Michael
4. David
5. Matthew
6. Alexander
7. Jacob
8. Nicolas
9. Jack
10.Samuel

Now, the boys names are just traditional Biblical style names, and without the input of the distinctively Jewish girls names, wouldn't reveal much. But taken together, I feel it shows that a significant number of white babies in the City are named using Jewish naming conventions.

Also, I'm never naming my kid Daniel or Olivia. In fact, none of my top baby name choices are on the lists, for any race. Woot!

If I have lent you a tool*, now is the time that I would like it returned, please. This is for census-taking purposes, so that I know what I need to replace and can make budgeting plans accordingly. I'm particularly looking for screwdrivers, as my current collection (which started as two sets of 7 each, one fine and one coarse) is looking a bit hit-or-miss.

How do you know a tool is mine? Chances are very high that it will either have my initials on it (VEB or ELB, depending on how old it is) or will have hot pink spike tape on it somewhere, usually around the throat. Chances are also pretty high that if it's a handtool, it's a Craftsman, as my original kit was all bought at Sears. (Best high school graduation gift ever!)

Thanks!


*or, if I have come over to your house to help you fix/assemble something and accidentally left a tool there...

Today, I appear to be paying a visit to Donwannaland. I have several knives to be working on (and the technology to do so), and gumbo to make (mmmm, I loves me some gumbo), and some interesting reading to accomplish (well, interesting to me, anyway -- planning to finish up Women and Work in Pre-Industrial Europe and read another article or two in European and Islamic Expansion), and perhaps some tool sorting/reorganization since the only things currently in my toolbag are a pair of pliers and a set of finishing nail drivers (out of the hundred or so things that I usually keep in there).

And yet. Here I sit at the computer, aimlessly reading LJ, refreshing email, and getting sucked into the Wikibyss. Work on knives? I'd have to clear off the workbench first. Gumbo? I forgot to pick up parsley on my way out yesterday, and I'm not entirely certain that we have bay leaves or filé*, and I don't want to go to the store on my day off, but I'm not certain I want cv parsley, either. And I want to watch a movie or something while I sort, except that I'm bored of all the movies that I've seen a hundred times, but I don't want to rent a new one because I'll need to be going in and out of the room and I don't want to miss anything important.

All things that I enjoy, and want to do, and yet don't want to do quite enough to overcome the minor obstacles. And so I engage in that most internetly of activities, writing in my blog about them. In my case, at least, the hope is that by pointing up the absurdity of the situation I will goad myself to action. Or pants.**

I suppose there's a logical order to some of this -- sorting tools will lead (inevitably) to a cleaner workbench, and being able to find anything that I need for working on knives. And it's been a while since I watched Miyazaki's work, so perhaps Spirited Away is in order.

And also, turning off the damn computer.

*in the process of typing this word, I finally figured out how to set numlock on my laptop keyboard. Hooray! I also accidentally found out the keyboard shortcut to "lock" my computer. Eep.

**actually, I was goaded to pants by my morning visit from the nosebleed fairy. Nosebleeds are undignified enough as it is; if I'm going to have a second one today, I'm at least going to be wearing more than underwear while I'm walking around with tissues up my nose.

So I was going to write up a short review of 5 games that anyone should be happy to get in their stocking this Christmas. And maybe I'll do that tomorrow. But for now, here's my short anti-list:

Do not purchase any product by or associated with Games Workshop ("GW") this holiday season.

This includes anything related to Warhammer (Fantasy or 40,000), any of the licensed products put out by Fantasy Flight Games (e.g. Chaos in the Old World, the Rogue Trader RPG) or various video game companies (Warhammer Online, Blood Bowl, etc.)

Why, you ask? Well, because GW has apparently entered into a new phase of their crusade to remove all fan-created content from the internet. Many of my favorite websites have been ordered to cease and desist from hosting "proprietary" GW content, including everything from home-brew scenarios, stories, player aids, and FAQs for games like Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay and Space Hulk, to pictures of peoples' GW-related tattoos. Long-running sites which I have frequented in the past (e.g. FUMBBL, the online Blood Bowl league) have recently been threatened. Even boardgamgeek.com has been ordered to remove all proprietary IP, including, presumably, the picture of the front of the game box used in their rating system, as well as massive amounts of content of every variety.

Well, enough is enough. GW has long had a ridiculously draconian IP policy, especially as regards internet sales, but making fans delete lovingly created content which in no way threatens (rather, it bolsters) GW's income stream takes things way too far. I am officially boycotting all GW-related purchases for the foreseeable future, and encourage you to do the same.

Would that I could also get back the thousands of dollars I've poured into their coffers over the past 20-odd years. Methinks that it is ebay time.